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Originally Posted by 5am6oody72
Originally Posted by xcg11pinoYx
I got an autographed jersey and gilzero (1 shoe)..I hope you didn't get those in the same contest I didOriginally Posted by 5am6oody72
Originally Posted by DoubleJs07
On twitter, adrian wojo (sp?) was saying that the wizards are going to work harder than ever to move arenas...still a lot of tension between the two sides.
*Looks over at autographed GilZeros*
I definitely want the Wiz to get rid of him, but I just can't believe how big of a screwup he is and how much talent he wasted...
Yup
And lmao @ the 3-5 point improvement on defense without Antawn.
This is a good read....
what John Wall/#1 overall pick means to the Wizards and their fans:
Click the link for the rest of the article:
To understand exactly how much this means to the Washington Wizards, there are really three different factors that need to be explained, but we may as well start with the franchise itself. Skip this if you're familiar with what's happened, but the full narrative's not complete without some back story.
And for years, it's been the same story. The nickname "Clippers East" is a good indication of where the Wizards have been for the past few decades, but even that doesn't capture it completely.
The Clippers are bad because they've got terrible ownership and it trickles down to the court. The Wizards? We had one of the most respected owners in the NBA, and we still lost. In some cases, we lost because Abe Pollin was so great.
As I wrote at the time of his passing, Abe was a victim of his own virtue. If he trusted someone, he believed in them through thick and thin—and that meant sticking with Wes Unseld as a general manager for years after he proved incompetent. It meant keeping guys around who may not have been the best option for the team. And more recently, it meant giving Gilbert Arenas about $15 million more than anyone else was offering. Why? Because Gilbert was loyal, and he gave Abe’s franchise a heartbeat right after the greatest player in NBA history had driven a stake through its chest.
If that reads like an indictment, it's not. Wizards fans wouldn't have wanted anyone else running the team but Abe. And as a Wizards fan, I couldn't have been prouder to have Irene Pollin as the one to represent the team last night. But even so, the Pollin loyalty hurt us to some degree. Most years, the Wizards were just irrelevant.
But to the few who paid attention? Well, let's see. A incomplete list of Washington's more crushing disappointments, in no particular order...
And that's before the failure began to really get biblical. That began to take shape when Michael Jordan arrived to save us from ourselves. In theory, at least, he lent a sense of nobility to a franchise that had been a running joke for my entire life. Problem is, Jordan's nobility became its own kind of curse. His petulant, gargantuan ego engulfed the whole franchise. So when, the media was teeming with loving Jordan tributes back in September for his Hall of Fame induction, I had to recount his tenure on the Wizards. Read the whole thing if you want to watch me call the Greatest Player of All Time a jerk, but his last NBA game really epitmoized the whole experience:
- Acquired Bernard King about three years too late.
- Traded for star point guard Mark Price, only to have injuries ruin his one.
- Missed drafting Reggie Miller by one spot. Drafted Muggsy Bogues instead.
- Traded Rasheed Wallace and Chris Webber too early.
- Signed Juwan Howard to a franchise-crippling $105 million contract, and he immediately faded to mediocrity, while Webber and Wallace shined for Sacramento and Portland, respectively.
- Unearthed Ben Wallace from the basketball netherworld ... and then traded him for Ike Austin, and watched him anchor Detroit's defense for the better part of a decade.
The Wizards showed a 5 minute highlight reel that was 90 percent Michael Jordan on the Bulls. No lurching post-up game, dominating the ball for 10 seconds, before he'd invariably settle for an 18-foot fall away on the baseline; this was the Michael Jordan. The stadium lights were dim, and when they came back on, I was crying a little bit. It was that special.
And then Wizards owner Abe Pollin and Michael Jordan met at center court, where Pollin presented a large charitable donation on Michael's behalf. Pollin took the microphone and spoke to the crowd, thanking Michael for all his contributions to the team, and his hard work in building the franchise. Then, we figured, Michael would take the microphone and thank us, too, for supporting him with sold out games and undying affection. Instead, he waved to the crowd, bowed his head, and left the court without saying a word.
And that's what Michael Jordan will always mean to me: a player that was so good he could literally make you cry, but up close and in the flesh, a pretty cold-hearted guy.
Michael Jordan may have been the greatest player of all time, but as a Wizards fan, I'll take Gilbert Arenas any day.
http://www.sbnation.com/2010/5/19/1478262/this-is-what-it-feels-like-to-win-the-lottery